Year in Review: October through December 2011

Friday

Dec 30, 2011 at 12:01 AMDec 30, 2011 at 7:35 AM

Editor’s note: Year in Review highlights some of the headlines from The Item in 2011. January through March ran in the Dec. 9 Item. April through June ran in the Dec. 16 Item. July through September ran in the Dec. 23 Item.

The Museum of Russian Icons, in Clinton, celebrated its fifth anniversary. At the same time, its sister exhibit, the Gallery of African Arts, opened down the street, at Sunrise Boutique.

Despite rain, thousands of people attended the annual Horseshed Fair in Lancaster, as well as the Thayer Memorial Library’s book sale. After the book sale, remaining books were donated to 15 organizations, including school libraries, town libraries, prison libraries, state hospital libraries, senior centers and homeschoolers.

The state opened the top of the dam, at the Wachusett Reservoir, for people to walk across for several hours one Sunday. Families came together, with parents showing their children where they walked as children.

A Route 495 bridge over Route 117 in Bolton was dedicated to the memory of Harold Brown Jr.

Nashoba Regional High School marked its 50th anniversary with homecoming and other social events.

There was more bad news for Atlantic Union College, which is closed for the first time in over a half century. Fellow Seventh-day Adventist college Washington Adventist University voted not to establish a branch in Lancaster. The trustees of Washington Adventist in Maryland voted to suspended further negotiation, after the two colleges were unable to reach an agreement about operating a branch campus.

Rep. Harold Naughton Jr. (D-Clinton), a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves, had orders to report to Afghanistan. Naughton made the announcement while at Fort Benning, in Georgia. He said he would be serving as a JAG officer with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, of the 4th Infantry Division, In Kandalhar, near the Pakistan border.

James “Nibben” O’Toole was remembered for his love of Clinton … and baseball. O’Toole, who was a Board of Health member and Town Hall custodian for many years, died from complications of cancer.

Karen Chick was selected by the Sterling Board of Selectmen to be the town’s next accountant, pending terms of employment.

Clinton and Sterling Police were working to return grave markers, stolen from local cemeteries. Worcester Police arrested Alan Long Jr., of North Grafton and charged him with receiving stolen property valued at more than $250 and crimes against morality and decency by removing grave markers. Long was accused of trying to sell the markers at scrap metal dealers.

Fourth-graders who arrive early for Clinton Middle School will no longer have the option of watching TV in the media center before school. The TV was on Nickelodeon, and some parents felt time potentially watching “Spongebob” would be better served on additional education. School officials pointed out it was before school, and many teachers were not even in the building when parents were dropping their students off. “I was trying to do something nice,” Clinton Middle School Principal Michael Vetros said, noting the 50-inch plasma TV had been donated.

A damaging pre-Halloween snow storm on Saturday, Oct. 29, left a lot of the region in the dark for one day, two days or up to a week. Children missed school for three days in Berlin, Bolton, Clinton and Lancaster, due to power outages and roads that were impassable to school buses. Clinton Middle School didn’t get power restored until Thursday afternoon. Even Halloween became a casualty to Mother Nature. While Sterling held trick-or-treating on Halloween night, with warnings to be careful of downed limbs and power lines, other local communities held off. Berlin canceled all together.

Bolton voters at a special town meeting turned down the purchase of the Smith property on Main Street. A total of 582 voters, 18 percent of the 3,295 registered voters in town, attended, packing the Florence Sawyer School to overflowing.

Phil Duffy, of Clinton, settled into his role as director of Clinton’s office of Community and Economic Development. He replaced Michael Duff, who was hired in August 2009.

Along with Veterans Day ceremonies, Jimmy McNally, owner of the Old Timer Restaurant in Clinton, held his annual Marine birthday party.

Sterling’s Fornario family faced off against a family from Georgia on “Family Feud.”

The Clinton School Committee voted to bring back four basketball teams, cut last summer when the budget was slashed. But the decision, while unanimous, was not without some dissent. Superintendent of Schools Terrance Ingano said, after a successful round of community fundraising, and some savings recognized by fall sports, he felt comfortable recommending JV boys and girls basketball, as well as middle school hoops, be reinstated. But some dissenters questioned why the same type of creative fundraising is not used to restore academic programs.

The Gaels and Chieftains both won their Thanksgiving Day football matches. Clinton beat Maynard, 42-8, while Nashoba powered by North Middlesex, 52-14.

Robert Latini was chosen by the Wachusett Chamber of Commerce as the winner of its George Bailey Award, part of the “It’s a Wonderful Community” campaign.

Bill Coulter published his seventh book, called “Where the Hell is Clinton?” Proceeds of the book will benefit the Item Appeal, which Coulter helped found when he was publisher of the Item.

A pair of Clinton Youth Cheerleading squads headed to Florida to compete in the national competition. Clinton’s 13-and-under squad, which contains 15 of the 16 girls who won a national championship as 12-and-unders last year, plus six new members, claimed the Central Mass. championship earlier this season, and placed second at regionals to qualify for the national competition. The 10-and-under squad, which is 23 members strong, finished second in Central Mass. and third at the regionals, which featured teams from all over New England.

Bolton Selectmen Dave Lindsay and Stan Wysocki agreed on a fire chief, selecting John Mentzer, currently deputy chief, to head the town’s fire department. Mentzer, a 30-year veteran of the department, had been running the department in his role as senior officer since the retirement of former Fire Chief John Stephenson earlier in the year.

The Nashoba Chieftains won the Super Bowl, blanking Holy Name 27-0. The Gaels came close, losing to Leicester in their contest, 20-14. Assabet was also edged out of its Super Bowl game, losing to Bay Path 38-34.

The average Clinton homeowner will face an approximate $168 per year property tax increase this year after selectmen voted, 4-1, to retain the same split rate, a factor of 1.70, as last year, meaning commercial and industrial owners will bear more of the burden. The new rates are $15.28 per $1,000 of valuation for residential property, and $29.77 per $1,000 for commercial, industrial and personal property. The average value of a single-family home dropped slightly to $219,267.

One person was sentenced to jail and another placed on probation after admitting to sufficient facts for guilty findings on charges involving the theft of nine puppies from the Animal Shelter of Sterling earlier this year. Jose Figueroa, 23, formerly of 12 Winfield St., Worcester, was sentenced in Central District Court to two years in the House of Correction and was placed on probation for three years after being found guilty of several charges related to the March 17 theft. Figueroa told police he became involved in the crime after co-defendant Sylvia Ortiz asked him to steal her a puppy from the shelter. Ortiz, 22, formerly of 10 Gaylord Blvd., Apt. 8, Worcester, was also found guilty and placed on probation for one year and both she and Figueroa were ordered to pay a total of $902 in restitution to the shelter.

The Clinton School Committee approved forming a subcommittee to investigate whether to hire a business manager for the school district. The committee was charged with creating a job description, research other school districts and decide if the post should be full- or part-time. The School Committee would then have to approve the position.

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